Blind in Hell
by AlyCat3
Summary: Steve's lost in the middle of nowhere, with no sight, and the two people who are most likely to kill each other. Tony, Steve, and Clint whump, nonslash.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own no Avenger related anything, trust me I started a club

Beta Read by Kitty29, whom without the help, this would not have made it the light of your screen. Thank you

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"Tony!"

I knew that voice, or at least I should. Yet it was distorted with pain, worry, and a hacking cough that hindered his next sentence. "Steve! Tony's still in the truck, are you awake? Steve!"

Something heavy hit down beside me and I felt something flutter over my neck, then steady for five of my heart beats. A heavy sigh of relief until whoever had just checked my pulse stood and began coughing again at once. I knew I should be trying to get up, helping which ever of my team mates were clearly in dire need of it, but this whole experience felt so unreal that I did not try to fight off the black void that consumed me.

AAA

"—are one of the most ungrateful ass rockets I know!"

"You know I don't actually have a rocket in my ass. That would have been kind of cool though, I could have made it look like I was sitting down in the air."

God did my head hurt.

"Stark, focus! Steve's still out of it. We got to try and get a hold of the others. You got a cell phone or anything useful on you?"

If only they would stop talking for five seconds so I could get through this pain and remember what happened.

"Well I had one, before I got blown up and lost it. So sorry it didn't occur to me to grab it before the car exploded."

Blown up? That's right, hadn't we been in a car? Stark and Barton had been arguing over...something. Much like they were now, except my head hadn't felt like it was caving in before the explosion.

"Do you have anything useful to say?"

Please say no, let the noise stop so that I can get a little more stable before you guys go on verbally abusing each other.

"Actually I do, are you worried about your girlfriend?"

"That's so not useful right now."

I could finally feel my body again, my fingers were starting to twitch, I think I groaned, but it was unheard by my companions.

"I find it very valid as you just turned an amusing shade of red. So now I'm curious. What do the tabloids call you two? BlackHawk or Widow's Eye? Personally I like both, as it means Tasha's probably the dominant one."

I opened my mouth to try and get something out, maybe steer this conversation in a different direction before it got to violent, but this attempt was as weak as the last one, leaving Clint to retort, "Stark I swear if you don't shut up now I'm going to shove this arrow so far up your—"

"Guys." I croaked out, and was pleased at the silence that greeted this, though not so much when this one lone word turned into a hacking cough. I tried to open my eyes and get my bearings, but seemed unable to do so. Someone was gently lifting me up and onto my stomach while still trying to support my weight, making it a bit easier to breath, and the coughing to die down.

"Hey, Steve's back, yee fucking haw! Maybe now we can get moving, I'm melting." Tony's voice sneered.

"Wish you were." I heard Clint say from right beside me, leaving me in no doubt who was the friend to support my aching body. As I was gently lifted upright I managed to breath a bit easier, and also get out a decent sentence. "What happened?" Well half decent.

"Oh great, now the great Captain doesn't remember shit! Were going to have to drag his ass through this god forsaken place and—"

"Stark! Shut the fuck up!"

I froze for a moment for the response I knew was coming, but was amazed when I heard nothing. No retorts, no witty comebacks. Actual silence.

For a moment I wondered if aliens had come and replaced him, until Clint shouted, "Tony!"

I heard a distinct thud where I thought Tony's voice might have been coming from, and Hawkeye was no longer at my side. It was frustrating beyond belief not to see what was going on, so I raised my hand up to my still burning face to see if something was covering my eyes.

"Don't touch Steve! You'll get them infected." Clint shouted back at me, and my hands froze in place. What was he talking about? Get what infected? This whole situation was becoming so disorienting that I slumped back down onto the surface below me.

"No, come on Cap don't pass out on me again. Gah! I can't do this by myself!" Clint growled.

I was slightly alarmed at the sound of panic creeping into his voice, stopping me from passing back out. I couldn't remember Hawkeye ever sounding that panicked in the years we had worked together. So I laboriously hauled myself into a sitting position, and tried to clear my throat. This however resulted in another bout of coughing, leaving me about as useless as a kitten.

Even after I stopped trying to hack up a lung I did not attempt speech again at first. Mostly out of fear it would start the whole thing up again. Yet when the silence continued to linger on, I rasped out, "Clint?"

"Yeah Steve, still present." His voice sounded strained, and I started to panic again at this. Plus the simple fact that I _still _couldn't see. What was wrong with me? Not even a blurry focus of anything, had I gone blind?

I needed answers, but first things first "Tony?" Ugh, I sounded like a chain smoker after an asthma attack.

"That's a good question." Barton muttered so low I almost didn't catch it. Then in a clearer voice he announced, "I'm not a hundred percent sure; smoke inhalation is my best guess. He's got a low grade fever, probably that cut on his leg might be getting infected—"

"How long have I been out!" I demanded. It must have been at least a few days for infections to already be setting in!

There was a brief silence where I assumed Clint was hesitating on weather to answer me or not before admitting, "Two days, give or take a bit. Depending on how long we were all knocked out at the same time."

I tried to mouth the word "two" but was overcome by another coughing spell. My throat was horrible, like dried sandpaper being dragged across the Sahara Desert. There was something vaguely warm with a slosh to it being placed in my hand, and I did not hesitate after that realization. Liquid, a smooth substance that would help the ache to go away.

I downed the whole bottle before coming back for breath, and was pleased when I once again attempted to clear my throat and found it in almost working order this time.

"Two days?" I finally managed to get out.

"Give or take." Clint repeated.

"What happened?" I demanded again, proud that this time my voice seemed much stronger for it.

Clint hesitated again, and when he finally spoke he sounded exhausted. "Look, you just drank the last of the water, and its getting dark out. I'm going to refill the bottles and move you over here beside Tony so that you can like listen to his breathing or something. God I sounded like a freaking pedo just now."

Shame was the dominant emotion after that. "How far is the nearest water source?" Then before he could respond, "_almost _night fall! God dammit Clint why can't I see shit?"

"Wow, Tony's missing out on the symbol of America cursing like a teenager. He's going to be real upset when he wakes up." I glared at him best I could since I couldn't see him, and Clint quickly responded, "Look, just let me run out and get the water, all right? Hopefully Tony will have woken up by then and I'll fill you in okay."

"Why did Tony pass out?" I demanded, but I could already hear movement. The soft, almost undistinguished sounds of Hawkeye's boots moving across the hard surface beneath us as he came towards me. He gently grasped my shoulder, and half carried half dragged me over less then twenty feet to drop me almost gently beside the prone form of what I assumed to be my unconscious team mate.

"Answers in fifteen minutes, promise." Clint declared before there was utter silence to match the lighting.

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Sadly its going to take longer then fifteen minutes for you guys, but I do promise to have the next chapter up before Monday. To all those who celebrate it, Happy Easter.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own no Avenger related anything, trust me I started a club

Beta Read by Kitty29, whom without the help, this would not have made it the light of your screen. Thank you

* * *

Chapter 2

It actually took Clint thirteen minutes and twenty seven seconds to return, but it seemed more like weeks had passed. Tony did not wake up during this time, and this close up I could hear how his breathing sounded wrong. He seemed to be skipping every other breath, and he wasn't breathing very deeply like people do when they sleep.

I tried to remember what happened myself, but it seemed impossible. So when Barton did come back, I started firing questions at once. "What happened?"

Clint almost laughed, something that did not please me a bit. This was not a laughing situation. "Yesh Cap, breath. You've been asking me that from the second you woke up." I was not amused.

"Why can't I see? Where are we and what's wrong with Tony?" I demanded in the best leader voice I could gather with my still slightly sore throat.

"Aww, really? Tony came up last? That's going to break his heart when he comes around this time."

"This time?" I frowned, Stark randomly passing out was not a good sign.

"Right okay, no more beating around the bush. Tell me, what's the last thing you remember?"

I closed my eyes and tried to inhale deeply, and felt a tightening in my chest for two reasons. One, it made no god damn difference to the lighting problem I was having, and two, my chest shouldn't feel so tight. "I remember, being in the back of the van. We were taking supplies to the helicarrier via off road because Widow found a leak in the system and didn't trust the air support. Um, you and Tony were arguing, but that's kind of it. I don't even remember—"

"Green Day." Clint interrupted

"What?" Was the obvious question to that random input.

"Tony was trying to put in a Green Day CD, and I wouldn't let him, because I personally can't stand them. I reached down and grabbed his wrist to stop him from shoving it in, that's why my eyes left the road for one god damn second." Barton ended this with a lot of bitterness. I guess I could understand why. I did not stop him, however, as he went on. "We hit, something, an animal maybe. At least, I hope it was an animal, because the van jumped hard and you came from the back stating you'd heard something. I looked into the mirror and saw you digging threw the supplies, and then you pulled it out. I panicked, I can't believe I just jumped out, I saw that stupid thing in your hand and I dove out of the—"

"Stop that." I snapped as I heard guilt and self blame taking over his every syllable. "You're not making any sense, what did I find?"

I could hear him swallow something, water maybe, or just his own spit. His voice was soft as he continued, "A bomb. Suppose someone probably planted it and expected it to go off when we reached base, but that jarringon the road set it off early. So who ever did it did it stupid. I shouldn't have jumped out, I fucking know how to diffuse a bomb and I just shot out of the flipping door—" he stopped himself this time, and remained silent for so long I was starting to wonder weather he'd continue. I might have started to drift off to sleep even, but eventually he did finish his little tale.

"I wanted back in as soon as I landed on the ground. I started running after the car, but it hit another bump or something in the road and flipped off the side. Blew up as soon as it landed. I found you slightly up the hill, I don't know if you jumped out of the back or got thrown out. Judging by the fact that your face looks like raw meat I'm going with thrown. You're lucky Cap, anybody else who got a bomb to the face probably would have died. You? Your face is scabbed over everywhere, including your eyes. Since the swellings gone down in the past few days since I've dragged you in here, there might be hope that it'll continue, and you'll get your sight back."

I caught the soft sound of his body resting on the ground, he was moving something, maybe trying to make a bed and get comfortable? I had no idea, but he still hadn't finished. "Tony?"

The pause wasn't nearly as long, but the self hate in his voice left me in no doubt that he would like to forget this part as much as I had. "I checked to make sure you still had a pulse, then sprinted over to the van when I didn't see him. He was still stuck inside, his seat belt had freaking melted in the heat and I, nor him probably, could get in unhooked. Took my knife out of my boot and had to saw off his seat belt, the air bags hadn't deployed. Probably thanks to the same person who left the bomb. He'd inhaled so much smoke already, and even when I got him untangled I couldn't get him more then a dozen feet away before the thing blew up all together. I woke up first, I hope it was the same night. Found a cave and shoved both your asses in there. Then I went looking around, found a river bout five miles farther down hill. Managed to save a box of granola bars and some only slightly chard bandages. Been stuck here since, can't risk moving you, Tony won't stay awake for more then a few hours at a time. Its hard for him to breath, too much smoke. Plus his leg's kind of torn up because of the car throwing shit every where."

He remained silent after that, he seemed to just have nothing else to say. For a while, neither did I. Until finally, I decided that some things needed to be straightened out. "I"m proud of you soldier."

"Wha- I mean what?" Clint stuttered

So I elaborated as best I could, "I'm not mad that you jumped out of the truck. If you hadn't you'd have been in the same position as Tony. We'd all be dead if you hadn't gotten us out of the way. Who's to say you could have diffused the bomb quick enough? I'm proud of what you did, so you should be too."

I heard nothing from my only awake companion, but when he spoke again, his soft voice didn't hold as much venom towards himself as it seemed to have previously. "Go to sleep Steve, you need the rest. Tomorrow, we're getting out of here."

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Did I say by Monday, I meant on...yeah. So I hope you enjoyed that as much as you all seemed to enjoy the first chapter, and I promise these chapters will get progressively longer the more the story goes on. Thank you all!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own no Avenger related anything, trust me I started a club

Beta Read by Kitty29, whom without the help, this would not have made it the light of your screen. Thank you

* * *

Chapter 3

This time when I woke up to Tony and Clint snipping at each other, I couldn't help but grin at the casualness they were using. The familiarity felt great when I realized why I had such a crick in my neck from sleeping on a wall all night.

"—all I'm saying, Katniss, is while you were out hunting you could have found an alternate route."

"Do you want to get back or not? I memorized this area before we drove through it and that river is the half way mark to the next safe house. All we have to do is cross it, and then hike the last fifteen miles and we're home free."

"I still don't get why we can't go back up the road! Make life a hell of a lot easier—"

"I told you," Clint snapped, sounding exasperated as if he'd had this conversation over a dozen times already. Knowing Tony, he really might have. "The guy who tried to blow us up is probably inspecting this whole area. Even an idiot would know to follow up on his work to make sure he got his targets. When he doesn't find our bodies he'll know we're still alive, and the road will be to obvious of a choice."

There was a pause for a moment, and the silence let me take in the rest of the smells and sounds of our little abode. There was a soft crackling of flames and rustling of twigs, they were probably cooking something over a fire. From the soft echoes of their voices I would presume they were at the mouth of the cave, smart so that the smoke wouldn't clog the whole place. Yet it seemed rather risky, if we were trying to stay low then wouldn't sending up a smoke signal be the opposite?

I tried clearing my throat but before I got the chance to say anything aloud Clint spoke in a rather sly voice, "Why are you so adverse to a little swim? I think your just pissy cause you're the only one who doesn't have his stuff. I found the Cap's shield imbedded in a tree this morning, and I made myself the bow and arrows. You're just stuck with a too heavy metal briefcase that won't even open anymore. How useful is that stupid thing if it can't survive a mini explosion?"

Tony's voice went from whining to snapping in seconds "I told you, it will open. It just won't fit around my body right, making it a hazard. I could still pull the main components apart and use them, bird brain. Its just easier to carry it like this for now."

"You're just saying that so you don't have to admit it. Leave the damned thing here, Stark. It's just extra luggage I'll have to deal with."

"I am not leaving this technology out where the wrong people could find it. Unless there's no one out there looking. Which is it, Legolas, someone's out to get us and we have to swim through a damn ocean, or no ones out there and you're trying to go the hard way."

"You're worse than a child, no one's going to want that hunk of junk! If you'd take your head out of your ass for five seconds and think about the long run—"

"You guys!" I called out before the argument could escalate any further. "Clint, just drop it. It's Tony's suit, and he's right, he really can't just leave it lying around. I'll carry it, probably won't be any different than the survival packs I had before."

"Thank you! You see, this is why we keep him around." I wanted to take back my statement at the smug tone to his voice, and could already feel the beginnings of another headache coming on when Clint spoke up, "nice to see you awake again Steve. How's the eyes?"

"The same." I sighed, hoping against hope that the slight flickering of red coming from the directions of their voices wasn't pure wishful thinking and a trick of my mind.

"That's great." Tony grumbled with mock sincerity. "So lets decide what's worse; carrying the most technological piece of equipment the size of a briefcase through hell, or carrying the blind Popsicle through hell."

"You won't have to carry me." I snapped at the same time Clint cut in with "he's not going to be carried, because he's going to have to carry your ass."

"What?" We both snap at the same time.

"Have you lost all of your feathers?" Tony continued in a hiss. "I am so not letting Stars and Shit over there carry me around like a sack of flour."

"Watch it with the insults." I snapped at him before Clint cut across us both. "Tony stop that."

There was the sharp smacking sound of flesh against flesh, and a sudden rise in the smell of smoke in the area. Clint continued, "Be reasonable Stark. First, stop poking the fire like that. It'll diminish the flame and continue to make more smoke, which you don't need in your body right now. You can barely hop around on your own, and the fucking trip from the back of the cave to the mouth left you out of breath. How on earth do you plan on getting down hill on your own?"

Tony said a few more things that would have made a sailor blush before I cut across, "I think it's a good plan."

Silence from both men, then I heard Clint chuckling slightly. "Here I thought it would take all week to get one of you to agree. I'm glad the leader of the group has a little sense."

"I don't care if he thinks pink should be the new state color! He is not carrying me anywhere." Tony growled.

"Think about it Stark," I said in an attempt at a patent voice. "I can't see. I'm going to need someone close to me to make it through here, are you really going to leave the only able bodied person to the handicap so you can lead the way by hopscotch?"

"Yes." Tony said in a duh like voice.

"You two are joining the buddy system and that's that. No arguments," Clint said loudly, then there was a sudden hissing noise and the crackle of flames disappeared to be replaced by the acrid smell of smoke even more pronounced. I couldn't help the slight coughing fit that started up again, but that was nothing to the heavy fit that was once Tony's smart ass voice. The rough hacking sent shivers up my spine and I automatically moved forward to help, getting to my feet for the first time in an unsteady drunken swagger.

By the time I made it over to the pair, I only managed to kick up some more dirt into the air and add Clint to the contest of who could show a lung first.

I finally found a shoulder and used it to plop myself beside the pair, but couldn't actually tell who it was I had used to sit on until the figure beside me started trying to speak, "To-tony! I told you to fucking stop it!"

So it was Clint I'd found first. It was lucky I'd established this because if I hadn't I'd have no idea that was Tony's voice as he tried to say, "No-not my fault! Didn't know that water would make a, sm-smoke storm! May-maybe next time yo-you shhh—" His words slurred to a stop all together and I was forced once again to merely listen to the heavy thudding noise of a body going down, and Clint's panicky voice as he ascertained his health.

"Clint," I questioned softly, yet sternly. I needed to know what was wrong with a member of my team. A heavy sigh could be heard before he answered, "I always said that man's mouth is going to be the death of him."

"Wait, what?" I shouted in shock, falling flat on my face as I had tried to leap forward, only to stumble into something. That something turned out to still be Clint, and I grabbed hold of his arm as tightly as I was capable before growling, "Clint if his breathing stopped you need to—"

"Hold your shield Captain Spangles." Clint said patently. "First off, I don't care if he paid me all the money he owned, I would not kiss that man. Even to save his life. Second, he doesn't need it, he just talked himself out of air again. Passed out from lack of oxygen and probably _more _smoke in his lungs again from that stunt he just pulled by putting out the fire. Stupid bastard."

I slowly relaxed and backed away so that I wasn't in Barton's personal space any more as I sighed in relief. Despite his biting tone, I knew that there was relief coloring his face for our ill friend, even if I couldn't see it.

We sat there for a few more moments in silence, I was waiting for Tony to come back too, but Clint finally started to move around. Clearly he wasn't as patent in the field as on a roof. "Alright Cap, we got to get a move on, we're just to exposed down here from any targets after us. Tony's just going to have to get over his damsel in distress issues, cause you're carrying his Iron Ass."

"I don't know Clint, I still can't see anything, and if I drop him—" I started slowly, now fearing for both our healths at my lack of sight.

"Don't worry about it, I'll lead the way. You got good ears, just follow my footsteps, and try not to drop the genius on his head. Pretty sure if he lost any more IQ he wouldn't be considered one anymore."

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Sorry not much of note happened in this chapter, but if I made it any longer then it would spoil the fun of the next chapter. Hope your all having fun, and I sincerely appreciate any and all feed back, favoriting and alerts count! Thank you


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own no Avenger related anything, trust me I started a club

Beta Read by Kitty29, whom without the help, this would not have made it to the light of your screen. Thank you

* * *

Chapter 4

It wasn't as easy as Clint made it sound. Carrying Tony and his suit wasn't hard exactly, not like it would be for a normal person, but it wasn't light weight either. I consistently ran into trees, tripped over everything on the floor, and at one point there was a squish under my boot that I only hoped was mud. It was a miracle I hadn't dropped Tony yet, though the fact that he'd hit the trees before I had probably meant he wouldn't be feeling too hot when he awoke.

Clint also wasn't being much help. He seemed to either frequently forget to tell me where to place my feet to avoid obstacles, or thought I was smart enough to pick this up on my own. Either way, neither option was happening, and following a master assassin blind wasn't as easy as it sounded. Only if I stood completely still and concentrated on my rather enhanced hearing could I hear the ghost of movement that were his boots on the forest floor.

The dead leaves beneath my feet sounded like they were alive. The only reason I hadn't lost him a dozen times over was because I occasionally felt his hand whisper by my arm, or he would purposefully break a twig to attract my attention and guide me in the right direction. It was hard going, and awkward all around.

Despite all this however, I did not ask him to slow, and he did not suggest it. I felt Clint had made a great point in saying that someone would come to make sure the job was done right, and we needed to keep moving.

The downward slope of the hill we were walking on began to steadily smooth out into a flatter surface, about midday I would presume, though I had no idea when we even started. My internal clock was a little jacked up from keeping such a hectic sleeping schedule.

I wanted to ask how much farther away this river of his was, but we had both been silent for the whole trek, so asking for something like that sounded far too whiny for my taste. So instead, I focused my ears on the sounds around me again. I could almost hear the soft gushing of water, though it still sounded far off in the distance. I knew that Clint had been making frequent water trips to the river and our old cave, so I knew it shouldn't have been to far off.

However, as I listened even harder, something felt...off. It seemed a bit too quiet around here. No birds chirping, no wild life at all. Wasn't this the kind of dead silence you usually hear before a fire? I had just decided to bring this to Barton's attention, when I ran into another tree. With a loud 'humph' from the cradle in my arms, I guessed that this latest bark incident had finally awoken the nosiest member of the group.

He squirmed in my grasp, murmuring something that sounded like he was asking JARVIS to turn off the lights. I rolled my eyes and was forced to tighten my grip when he attempted to roll right out of my arms. "Tony, cut it out. This is bad enough without you kicking up a fuss."

He grumbled something a little louder, though this time I didn't try and figure it out. "Aww, is sleeping beauty awake?" Clint cooed from some where to my right and slightly above me. Was that why I hadn't heard him that much? He must have been moving from the trees to the ground and back, probably the best vantage point for him.

"Fuck off bird brain," Tony grumbled, and his squirming merely intensified. I was forced to stop and reposition my hold on both him and his stupid case before I dropped them both. "Tony, stop it. I'm pretty sure if I dropped you at this point I'd do it on purpose."

"Captain Sweet Heart? Never." Stark snapped, finally wrenching himself far enough over that I lost my grip, and he went crashing to the floor with a howl of pain. My only guess was that he must have landed on that bad leg of his.

"Hate to say I told you so," I sighed loudly, holding my hand out in his general vicinity, and then frowned in agitation when he did not take it.

His breathing was really heavy as he huffed out "I" huff "told" humph "you. No, pig-piggy back" but he finally stopped and coughed. I sighed in exasperation, and moved forward to just grab hold of him again. Sadly, my fumbling feet only managed to nudge a log on the ground, which screamed quite loudly, and turned out to be Stark's leg.

"The fuck Steve!" Tony crowed, I frowned, fixing to apologize and gripe him out for being so difficult in one go when there was a soft barley audible sound of someone landing beside us. "Would you two shut up," Clint hissed.

I realized at once Barton wasn't just telling us off when Tony didn't respond, and there was the discernible sound of a string being pulled taught. I jerked in surprise when something smooth and rounded was being pressed to my still outstretched hand, but relaxed when I realized the feel of my shield. Clint must have been holding onto it this whole time. I quickly slipped the familiar straps into place, feeling much safer in this situation for it. "Might need this Cap," Clint told me seriously. "You're going to need to shield you and playboy over there if things turn nasty."

"What do you guys see?" I hissed softly, trying to pitch my voice low like Hawkeye's, and almost making it.

"Not sure yet," he whispered back. "Take Stark out to the river, quickly. Just keep heading northwest, you two should make it before nightfall."

"Nuh uh Big Bird. We ain't leaving you back here by yourself."

"You two are a liability. It would make this easier for me if I didn't have to watch your backs as well as mine. Just go, I'll catch up to you." Clint even pushed me a little in the direction he wanted us to go in, and I couldn't help but hesitate despite his logic. It had always been, and probably always would be, against my nature to leave a soldier behind. Yet the Hawk was right; we were a liability like this. I would do the same for my team had the roles been reversed, and expected those orders to be followed. Knowing I should show the same respect as I expected, I did not argue, and instead bent down and grabbed a hold of Tony's shirt.

He made a spluttering noise, of pain or indignation at being treated as such I didn't ask, and began to hall his ass away at the fastest pace the two of us could manage.

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What did Clint see to make them run off? Will Steve's vision ever come back? Will Tony ever accept piggy back rides? Guess you'll have to wait till the next chapter to find out.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own no Avenger related anything, trust me I started a club

Beta Read by Kitty29, whom without the help, this would not have made it to the light of your screen. Thank you

* * *

Chapter 5

It was unsurprising that Tony gripped about this the whole way there, but at least he did it in low mutters so that he wouldn't be attracting too much attention. At least he was more useful awake. He had to lean on me heavily and do a sort of hop along skip that almost exhausted the breath out of him, which actually might explain the low mutters instead of all out whining. At least he stopped frequently enough to give me clearer directions then Clint had, even if they were coupled with every insult known to man.

We'd been walking, or whatever our version of that was, for approximately fifteen minutes when the sound of gushing water started to become more pronounced. I had grown seriously worried by that time. Clint should have rejoined us by then; what had happened to him? Were we heading in the right direction? Barton still had all the water bottles and we had no way to protect ourselves in these conditions. My shield wouldn't do much if I couldn't see to use it.

Thankfully we must have been getting closer, because the scattered leaves beneath my feet were slowly losing there crunching noise, and starting to develop a wet splosh to them. Just then a fat drop of water splashed into my face. I wrinkled my nose and automatically raised my left hand, the one not wrapped around Tony's waist but forced to carry his suit, to wipe it away with the back of my hand when another quickly took its place. "Is it raining?" I asked quickly, feeling like kicking myself for not having predicted something like this.

"Don't think so," he answered calmly, or as calmly as anyone could while out of breath. "It was pounding last night though, surprised you slept through it, so this is probably just the backwash of that. Water still at the top falling down, you know." Even after that relatively short sentence he was now panting for breath and did not speak up again until he muttered, "tree."

I paused and then quickly stepped to the left, the system we had worked out and only gone a dozen more paces before he again gasped out, "log." I stopped and waited patiently for him to get over it, so that I could at least guess at the distance I would need to go as well. The squishing of mud under my feet was starting to get a lot more noticeable by the time Tony managed to whisper, "clearing ahead." I was growing more concerned with the passing time, it was just unnatural for Stark to be so quiet.

I fully planned on at least trying to check him out when we stopped, when he came to an abrupt halt. "Rivers jus-just about a dozen more feet ahead."

I could hear it clearly now, the loud slap of the water hitting the rocks and logs all along the edge, the wild life seemed to be more alive in this area. Yet I still did not move forward, instead tugging his waist and saying, "that's great, now lead me over there so I don't fall in."

"Don-don't need to hold your ha-hand any more. Kin-kind of obvious." He gasped, and I felt his weight sagging even further down in my grasp.

"Oh no you don't soldier," I told him sternly, repositioning my grip and pulling him firmly to his one good foot. "You've made it this far. Lets get to the water, and we'll both feel better."

"No-not a soldier," he ground out, he must have been talking through his teeth at this point, for his words seemed both muffled and out of breath now. I had to practically drag him the last few paces, but let him sink to the ground when he gasped, "stop." I guessed why, I could just feel the open space in front of me. The thick trees from behind us did not reach all the way to the river's edge, and we seemed to have stumbled into a little drop off to the water. I placed his suitcase down by my feet and moved my shield from my right arm to my back. I took another step forward expecting water, only to drop a few feet and land face first into what I prayed was mud.

I quickly sat up, spitting out what certainly tasted like mud, to hear breathy laughter from above. "Yo-you are try-trying to ki-kill—" He couldn't even finish, his pants turning to coughs turning back to laughter and back again. I scowled in his direction, but took it as a good sign that he still had enough left in him to get a kick out of my misfortune, so I crawled the last few inches forward until water was overflown by mud. Deciding there was nothing left for it, I just shoved my whole face forward, letting the water run over me.

It burned at first, my automatic reaction was to recoil from the stinging it left on my scabbed face, but I ignored it and stayed down until my lungs seemed to be burning and bright flashes of light started to appear behind my closed lids. Yanking my head back with a huge lung filled gasp, I blinked spastically and started rubbing my eyes from habit, only to pull them away and gasp. I could see! Well sort of.

I imagined this is how a person without their glasses must see. Everything was fuzzy. I could distinguish the major colors from one another, but they all blurred together at the edges, making shapes hard to pick out. I must have looked like an idiot, sitting on all fours, in the water, smiling like I'd won the lottery. The fear of remaining blind had not fully sunk in until this moment. I had not allowed myself to come to terms with it, because there had been that small chance that I really might not get my sight back. Now that there was a real chance that I would be able to see again, I let that fear wash away as surely as this river had done to the scabs that had once been covering my eyes.

The sound of Tony's voice finally registered from still slightly behind and above me. It suddenly occurred to me that he had been trying to get my attention for a while, but I had managed to block it out at this new revelation. Now he made himself known again full force. "—just ignore little old me, still stuck up here. I'm not like you, I don't plan on falling face first into a vat of mud."

He stopped to take a breath, cough, but by that time I had gotten to my feet and turned back to figure out how far down I was. A bit further than I'd thought, the bank line was still above my head and I had to press my foot against the side and stand on my toes to reach back up and grab the edge. The sides were as muddy as the little puddle I was standing in.

"Looks like you're going to have to jump as well." I told him pleasantly.

"Um, no see I don't jump. Never have. Like even when I was forced to take physic—" he cut himself off to continue coughing, and I winced along with each one. Yes, he was getting worse.

"Its not a far jump." I encouraged. "And I'll hold my arms out to try and catch you."

"_Try__,_" he repeated, the harshness to his voice adding to the effect. "Um no. I don't think so."

"It's either get your million dollar ass down here and drink some water, or stay up there and die. Your choice, because I am not crawling back up there to carry you down."

"That's billion dollar ass to you," he grumbled, but it was much closer this time, and I could almost make out the shape of his face peering down at me. I squinted and I could almost make out the details of his face, and they weren't pretty. His normally highly groomed appearance was now mud covered, rumpled, and his skin was way too pale. His goatee and hair were hay wire in all directions and he was shaking like a leaf.

"Tony," I called up in exasperation. "Would you just jump?"

I held my arms out and looked up at him impatiently, only to see that his face had ducked back behind the edge again. His voice seemed to float down from far away, almost as if he had moved back to the tree line. "Yeah, no. That's just not going to happen."

"So, die of dehydration it is" I snapped, starting to lose patience with this game. I glanced about at my surroundings, trying to find an easier way up. The sky above me was a pale steeled color. I was looking up at a stormy gray sky, clearly rain was destined to fall again. The river beneath it seemed to mock that color, going from muddy brown on the banks to near black in the middle. Must be deep, and the current got stronger the farther out it went. It would not be an easy swim for Tony. His lungs had barely let him make it this far, a long drawn out swim? The opposite end of the bank couldn't be more than twenty-five yards. Tony's pool at home was almost the same distance. Hopefully it wasn't to deep, six feet if that.

There were no clear ways up to the grass, it just kind of dropped off as it had on this side. I couldn't even see a mud bath on that side. We'd have to swim through the whole thing and then climb up the other side. Shouldn't be any harder than crawling over the edge of the pool, right?

Now, how to keep Tony from drowning the whole way, seeing as he could hardly swim with his jacked up lungs; not to mention that leg I had yet to look at. One problem at a time, Steve. We really needed to get across to the other side, start up a fire. I could already feel a chill starting from standing still too long and the mud starting to dry on my pants.

"Come on Stark this isn't funny anymore. We've got to be serious about this, now get your so important brief case and come down." I tried to use my stern leader voice, but I wasn't even sure if it carried back to the tree line, I was hardly in peak health condition myself as far as my lungs went. My enhanced healing factor was probably clearing that out, but the long walk and toting a fully grown man around hadn't made the process any quicker.

When I received no response this time, I decided I really was going to have to go up there and drag him to the water. I had no idea why he was being extra difficult suddenly, but I suppose I was going to have to find out. I'd just placed my boots on the muddy wall again and grabbed hold of the edge when Tony's voice cried out in panic. "Steve!"

His voice however, didn't seem to be coming directly from in front of me as I had expected. It seemed to be further down the river bend. "Tony!" I called out worriedly, thinking wild animals maybe. Until I heard a gun shot echo through my ears, and a horrible splash.

I whirled around so fast I slid in the mud and landed hard on my hip, tried to scrabble quickly back to my feet, and merely lost my footing again. Deciding to hell with it I army crawled through the mud until most of my body was covered with water again, and then managed to get unsteadily to my feet. Looking to my right I saw dark shapes standing on the edge a dozen feet away, I couldn't make out how many shapes there were, but they seemed to be staring intently at something. Gasping in air from shock my eyes quickly swivelled back over the water. I could make out no point of entry, where the hell had Tony fallen in?

* * *

Cliff hanger, meet end of chapter. I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this story, the first actual story I've done in a sadly long time, and promise to post the next chapter on Saturday, until then, enjoy the suspense.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own no Avenger related anything, trust me I started a club

Beta Read by Kitty29, whom without the help, this would not have made it to the light of your screen. Thank you

* * *

Chapter 6

I watched Tony and Steve make their way unsteadily towards the river with tight pursed lips and a horrible feeling deep in my gut. Someone had been following us for the past few yards, and I'd been trying to ascertain if it was just an animal, or something else.

Again I couldn't help but reach back and finger my handmade bow with the adjoining arrows. It was hardly the best, not what I was used to, but it got the job done no matter what it looked like. Sturdy, flexible, and a whole night of practicing while keeping guard over the still unconscious boys at the time with the quail feathers I'd managed to snag got me used to it. I had a limited supply of six arrows total at my disposal with a weapon that would not last forever.

When Tony had awoken and started cursing up a storm, I knew for sure we weren't dealing with an animal, because last I checked nothing in this forest could make laser pointers appear on Steve's unprotected back. I landed quickly, intercepting the red dot, and was both confused and pleased when it veered away. Without taking my eyes off the location of where the weapon had to be from, I quickly shoved the boys off and then made my way over to who ever had the idiocy to come after us.

I made it to the location quickly enough, and found the exact signs I was hoping not to see; signs of human life. There were boot prints in the tree where who ever had been aiming at us must have sat. Still fresh, they couldn't be far off. I was hardly the best tracker ever, but SHIELD training did insist on woodland survival, so this finally came into play. I grew more worried as their trail seemingly lead towards the river, where I had sent the defenseless duo. Okay, that was a little unfair, but if Cap still couldn't see and Tony couldn't run, then they were going to have some serious evasion issues; let alone actually fighting anyone. I made it to the tree line where the trail was abruptly consumed with more footprints. Clearly this had been a meeting point.

Automatically, I slunk back into the shadows when I heard voices coming from just a few feet downstream "—unless you tell us where the Captain is." A deep growling voice was clearly threatening. I started inching forward as smoothly as I was capable to get a better sighting but froze in shock as Tony replied, "he went for a swim. You know in this weather it's best to stay hydrated."

Quickly scaling the tree pressed against my back I made my way into a comfortable nook to look down on the scene. There were five guys total now, two of them were standing on each side of Tony, who looked like hell. His skin was drawn and pale, his breathing was raspy at best, and he was clearly only upright by the support of the two thugs who were holding him up. Yet he still had that insufferable smirk on his face as the three men in front of him loosely held guns in their hands while he had his back to a gushing river bed.

The same guy who had spoken the first time lazily raised his gun until it was level with the glowing blue light coming from Tony's chest before he spoke, "well then I hope you know how to swim as well, because you're going to be joining him soon, but first, start making some bird calls. I want the location of Hawkeye."

I notched an arrow and aimed carefully, the body's were tightly packed around each other and there was a small chance that if I put too much pressure behind this arrow it would sail right through the middle guy and strike Tony as well. Deciding not to risk it, I aimed for the guy on his right when Tony spoke up. "You'd probably know better then I would. He's not a very well trained bird after all. He won't even eat all of his crackers."

Just as I let my arrow loose, Tony burst into action as well. By some luck of fate, he swung to the left and tackled that guy as my arrow sailed straight through the heart of the right guy and plunged into the heart of the other guy standing by the water. "Steve!" Tony called, wildly trying to get back to his feet after his little scuffle and attempting to make his way back up stream. The middle guy let off a wild shot at the sudden downing of three of his men, just as the guy with his arrow in his chest crashed into the water.

I made my move then, with Tony so low to the ground it was a breeze to take out the last two guys and run to Tony's side to make sure he wasn't shot in the cross fire. He waved me away and started pointing wildly in the direction he'd been trying to head in, but when I looked over there was no one there. I ducked down by his side and quickly patted him down, noting that while he had gained no new injuries, his old ones weren't doing any favors.

The blood had long since soaked through the measly done bandages I had wrapped around his leg, and I was terrified to see some gross looking crap poking out as well. The infection in his leg was slowly getting worse. He was now taking great shuddering gasps for air and I knew that his lungs were starting to take a tole on him as well. "Tony." I said sternly. "Where the hell is Steve? We've got to get out of here; there might be more guys around."

Stark scowled up at me and again pointed upstream, and I frowned. Steve had run off? That was not even slightly possible; Rogers would never leave Tony like this. After I still hadn't moved from his side Tony tried to get unsteadily to his feet and I swiftly moved forward to grab at his sagging weight. I was fixing to demand he put his butt back on the ground when he ignored me all together and kept trying to move forward, so I instead supported him as he made his way over a dozen feet or so and then looked down into what should have been water.

I was instead looking down upon a space that seemed to have been cut right out of the central part of the river, but seemed to be mud logged. There were clear signs of someone having fallen into this, and attempting to get back out.

"Steve fell into this?" I deadpanned.

Tony nodded mutely by my side. "Okay, so where is he now?" I groaned out. Was it really so hard just to stay put for five seconds?

Tony shrugged noncommittally as his eyes scanned the area, while I continued to inspect the hole. The mud trails seemed to be all over the place, I could only guess that Cap had tried to climb out and failed. Then he seemed to have gone to the water's edge for some reason. Why? Did he really feel like taking a swim right now? Then a thought occurred to me. I let my mind wander back over the scuffle we'd just had, and focused on one key point. Steve was blind right now. He wouldn't have been able to make out a thing, except the fact that Tony had called out his name, a gun had gone off, and a body had hit the water.

"Shit." I cursed, turning so fast I almost lost my grip on Tony and sent him crashing to the ground. I steadied him for a moment, and then proceeded to drag him along behind me as fast as I could. Predictably, he couldn't keep up, and our progress slowed even further when he demanded I stop so that he could bend down and pick his suit out of a bush he'd clearly discarded it in.

"Look Tony, I've got to hurry. Rogers is probably swimming around the bottom of that river blind, literally! He's going to drown down there thinking you got shot and I've got to go save his ass now. You're going to slow, so just stay here."

"Wh-what about mo-more—" he paused to cough heavily into his arm and I didn't wait for him to stop to interrupt. "Yeah I know there could be more people hanging around. Look, climb up this tree, okay? Stash your suit and just wait there. I'll come back."

I ignored the sound of my name as I jogged downriver and his inaudible voice faded fast.

* * *

I've heard that it has to get worse before it gets better...but it just might keep getting worse instead. Hope you enjoyed


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own no Avenger related anything, trust me I started a club

Beta Read by Kitty29, whom without the help, this would not have made it to the light of your screen. Thank you

* * *

Chapter 7

I scowled at the fast retreating purple form. Slowing him down? Alright, so I wasn't in peak condition, but that hardly meant he needed to stash me up a tree. I was the genius after all. I cast my eyes upwards and knew at once that me plus that tree would not equal anything good, so I repositioned the grip on my case and started to head upstream where, hopefully, there would be an easier place to cross the river and maybe somewhere to bunk down for the night.

Sadly, after less than ten feet I realized that just wasn't going to happen. I still couldn't seem to draw in enough air, so walking was the opposite of helpful when it came to that. I couldn't just sit here and do nothing though! My eyes scanned the area again for anything of use, and landed back on the bastards that had tried to throw me in the water. Clint's words rang in my head, there could be more. Hell he'd been right the first time suggesting someone would come after us.

It felt like honest torture, but I hauled myself back over to the four dead body's by a combination of sheer will, fear, and a lot of tree clutching as I hopped along. Making it back, I ransacked their still warm persons and grabbed three hand guns, and one of them had a taser on them. I didn't want to know. I almost left the sniper strapped to the dead guys back, because it was just extra weight that I couldn't deal with at this point, but then reconsidered. That bow Clint made was useful obviously, but a sheer piece of crap and wouldn't last long. He might need a real weapon at some point. Pocketing all but one of the guns and throwing the largest one over my back I had to pause several times to catch myself from crawling back to my brief case. What should have taken me mere minutes to walk back and forth must have taken twenty minutes to accomplish from my slow pacing.

Maybe there was some truth in what Clint said. My mind wandered to the Cap and briefly wondered if he was okay, but I didn't lay on those thoughts long. He was Captain fucking America, a little water was hardly the least of his worries; but I was just going to keep thinking that until he came back holding onto Clint's shirt tails and whining about me as always.

After managing it back to my mostly damaged suit, I placed all I had in front of me to try and come up with a new plan. I was trapped, making us trapped. There was just no way I could make it across that river, and Clint must be exhausted physically by now. It had been what, almost three days of little to no nutrition and getting through this forest after jumping out of a moving vehicle and being on the receiving end of it blowing up. Hardly what I would call peak condition, so relying on him to get us both across was asinine. Even if Hawkeye was at top form, what would we do on the other side? Apparently the safe house was still fifteen miles out, no way was I going to make it that far. I was still reeling for oxygen after a fucking limp around in this tiny area.

No, what we needed was something else entirely, a new plan of action. I looked forlornly on my destroyed suit, wishing that more then just the one repulsor had survived. It wasn't even of use, because if I did pull the suitapart to use it, I would get minimal power at best. The taser would do more damage.

The stupid GPS system I had installed into it was long fried, but what if...an idea. Suddenly I had the suit in my hands and was attempting to pry it open with no success, until I glanced around and saw a rather thick branch a few feet away.

Using the extra force I managed to pry a large chunk of burned and twisted metal far enough apart that I could shove my arm through and try to identify one piece in particular...

AAA

Finding Steve was easier then I thought. I'd started to jog down river in hopes of catching up to him quickly, but only managed little under a mile before I found him flailing about in the water, consistently going up for air and then right back down. I had to admire his determination, he had to know that Tony would have been dead had he really been in the water this long, and he was still down there looking.

I couldn't help but watch for a few minutes to appreciate his determination, but then noticed something odd. Steve wasn't exactly calling out and yelling for Tony to answer him, yet he still couldn't see. Was he really just covering the water blind? After watching him for almost five minutes I gave myself a good shake, what was the point in questioning it? Just ask, "Hey Steve, if you're trying to develop gills I'd suggest a more effective method. There's this toxic waste plant that's lovely this time of year."

The reaction would have been funny at any other time. Steve came up gasping and whirling towards the sound of my voice, and unerringly focused right on me. I called out louder this time, "can you swim back over here? Tony's fine, get out of the water."

Steve continued to slip farther down stream, but was now attempting to make it back to shore with semi strong movements. I followed his path diligently, prepared to jump in should it seem he was getting over powered, but he made it to the edge and I quickly bent down to help pull him out. It took a little more effort than I would have liked, but Cap was hauled onto the shore soaking wet and gasping for breath none the less.

He lay there like a fish for several moments, just gasping at air. I started counting slowly in my head and grew a bit worried when I got to a hundred and he still hadn't moved. "Steve you all right?" I asked, crouching down by his head to get a proper look at him for the first time, and unable to stop a short gasp. The scabs that had previously covered up both of his eyes and most of his face were gone. The skin looked new and shiny in places, but when he opened his eyes I could finally see the blues that hadn't been there before. I noticed right away that his eyes were straining though, flowing in and out of focus as he continued to get his breath back. "Steve? Can you see me? Can you hear me? You all right?"

He ignored all of the above questions and instead gasped out his own "Tony, you said—" and he rolled over to start up another coughing fit. I leaned forward and helped to support his weight as he tried to get it all up. "Jeesh, between you and Mr. Philanthropist back there we could win an award." As his coughing finally eased out I helped him to sit up and looked him directly in the face, then decided to forestall what I knew was coming. "Tony is fine. He ran into some trouble, but I'll give you the full story later. Right now we need to get back to him and find a place to settle before dark."

I glanced up at the sky line and noticed it was well past noon, we'd have to deal with the river tomorrow. It had taken much longer then I'd thought to make it this far. Both of these boys needed rest.

Steve had yet to move, and he looked up at me wide eyed and asked, "trouble?"

I shook my head fiercely and declared, "I'll tell you on the way, but we really do need to get back." He must have sensed something in my voice, because he then tried to hurry to his feet, only to unbalance and nearly fall back into the water. I reached out and snagged his shirt, holding on until I was sure he'd gotten his balance back.

"Preferably without any more incidents." I finished with a stern look. He sighed, but clearly understood what I was implying, and so he roped his arm around my shoulders and walked at my pace until I was satisfied he wasn't going to fall over. Then I released him and he walked under his own steed more or less. "Tell me what happened." He finally asked when I didn't start myself.

I quickly explained the situation, and then added on my reasoning for coming to get him. He took it all in silence.

We'd almost made it back to about where I left Tony when I finally asked, "So, can you see?"

He sighed deeply before answering, "Kind of, well mostlyish. Everything's blurry and I can barely make out more then a few feet away. At least it's something though."

"True that." I agreed as I started to slow my pace and began looking above me as the dead bodies came into sight. However, I knew right away that something was wrong. The body's had been ransacked, hastily looked through and all of their firearms were gone. Plus, there was no Tony anywhere in sight.

Steve could clearly tell something was wrong as well, so he sidled up close to my back and drew his shield from his back. I strung an arrow and proceeded forward with caution, my eyes taking in every minuet detail. There were signs of a struggle, but I was inclined to believe that was the original tussle of them dragging Tony to the edge of the river the first time.

I could make out the details of something extremely heavy, like his suit, being hauled off farther up stream by someone who didn't quite have the strength to hold it. I frowned; had Tony merely ignored my advice and tried to go up his own? Plausible considering the person, but a bit unlikely. I did not put away my weapon, but did quicken my pace in the general direction of the path he had taken. Steve did not question any of this, but stayed on my tail to cover me.

He'd made it a lot farther than I would have given him credit for given his physical state, but we finally came across a noise that had me both rolling my eyes and lowering my weapon. The familiar sounds of Stark at work were easily identifiable in this neck of the woods.

"What's a matter Stark? The scenic route not holding to your five star standers?"

Tony let out a wild yelp and whirled around to face us, gun in hand, only to nearly collapse at the sight of us.

He doubled over coughing, letting the now shaking gun fall out of his slack grip. Both of us hustled over and I bent down to thump him hard on the back, it was the only thing I could think to do at this point.

When he was finally done and looked back up at us I was more startled then anything by the tear tracks on his soot covered face.

I turned my back, pretending I'd seen nothing as he ducked his head back down and whipped his face hastily on his shirt sleeves, and only spun back around with a water bottle in hand when he spoke in a semi clear voice,"You guys look like shit."

"You're one to talk." I noted, as he quickly snagged the bottle and chugged it down, too fast. He was gagging on it in seconds and most of it came right back up, almost onto my shoe.

"Watch it motor mouth," I hissed, snagging the bottle from his grasp as Steve reached over and took his turn to thump him on the back. Stark was now scowling at the both of us, but I couldn't help but return it with a grin. His personality hadn't faltered one bit.

He stuck his hand back out for the water, and I shook it just beyond his grasp and stated, "Slow sips. I am not going back to that stream unless I have to. Plus, these were my best shoes."

He scowled and I let him snatch the water back, but he heeded me this time and took the water at a much slower pace this time. Only when he'd completely finished did he set the bottle aside and turn his back to us before stating, "Guess you are going to have to go back to that river."

"Honestly, why did we come back for him?" I demanded of Steve, who'd sat down and was watching us both with an amused look on his face.

"For my mind, what else?" He declared without looking up. I leaned over his shoulder to try and get a peak, only for him to straighten up and remove my line of sight again. "Nosey birdie aren't we? I think we should try and get your beak clipped next."

"That doesn't even make sense." I pointed out as I stood up to stretch and just decided to leave it. Whatever he was working on, he'd have to show us in the morning anyway.

"Of course it did." He muttered, turning back to his project.

I made my way over to the thickest tree and easily climbed my way up it, scaling the branches until the ground below was almost lost. I scouted the immediate area and was positive there was no more life around but the three of us before only going half way back down and making a little perch for me in the branches. I heard a couple of crude jokes below about my birds nest, but thought nothing of them. If Stark still had the energy for lame jokes like those than he must be feeling a bit better.

At this vantage point I could make the two out easily, Tony still in his black sabbath t-shirt, the slight glow of his arc reactor seemed to be growing brighter as the sun continued to dim. His pant legs were still torn to shreds and at this height I could still see the discoloration of his left leg he was holding off to the side. We had to get that checked out soon, or there was no telling what was going to happen to it.

Steve looked a bit more relaxed, leaning back against the tree I was in and watching Tony's hands fly through what I could now identify as his suit. Guess he had finally decided it wasn't worth tooting around if he was the one who was going to have to do it. He was clearly taking it apart and rewiring something, though it was beyond me what exactly.

With every passing minute our little spot was growing steadily darker, but no one suggested we light a fire. The last one hadn't done to much good. I knew I should suggest going out to hunt, there was more then likely still animals in the area. Small game that I might be able to set traps for and catch something to eat. Those stupid granola bars were already gone, and none of us had eaten all day. It wasn't so bad for me. Often times on solo missions I would have to live off of low provisions and stay in one spot until my target became available. Those two down there however, had dealt with a relatively difficult hike with sever injury's. They needed substance.

Yet I couldn't just leave them here, so undefended. Cap still wasn't back to 100% and both boys were exhausted. If there were still more people looking for us, which most likely there were, then going off into the night and leaving them here would be suicide. I also couldn't push aside the guilt that was still gnawing at me. I'd so far come off with a bruised up side that was probably one of the most minor injury's I'd ever received. Steve had a point, if I'd stayed in the truck it would have been a lot worse, but I still felt responsible for what happened to them.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the rough bark behind me, weighing all the pro's and con's before finally deciding the con's won out. I would have to make a solo mission out to go and get some food. Tomorrow. We'd be forestalled another half a day, but it would be worth it. I would get up early in the morning, wake up the Captain, and go in search of food. I'd come back, we'd get a semi good meal, and then work our way across the river. Hopefully with some meat in their body it wouldn't be too difficult, right?


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own no Avenger related anything, trust me I started a club

Beta Read by Kitty29, whom without the help, this would not have made it to the light of your screen. Thank you

* * *

Chapter 8

Steve and I agreed that he would stay awake and keep watch, since he'd had the most sleep. His eyes weren't quite back to normal yet, but he said that he could see new details every hour, and his hearing was just fine, so he was up for the task.

Tony worked well into the night on his doohickey, using the light of his arc reactor to see what ever he was doing. I really hoped he was doing something to help get us out of here; rather than just trying to get some tunes.

Still, despite both boys remaining wide awake down there, sleep escaped me up in my tree. The place was too open, too unprotected, and I was already awake when the sun started to make an appearance. I should have been exhausted, going on almost four days of no sleep, but I sprang from my tree with the same briskness of the morning air to find Stark passed out, his hand encased around his little machine, and Steve with his shield strapped into place and watching the tree opposite him.

"Has that spider been there all night, or was that just a leaf moving earlier?" He asked without taking his eyes off of it.

I hesitated then, feeling it wasn't right to leave them like this. Clearly nothing good had come of it last time, but as our stomachs growled in sync, I knew it was unavoidable. "Just relax Cap, if you start getting too tired wake Stark up, he shouldn't be sleeping for so long anyways."

He nodded before finally looking up at me and stating, "be careful, we don't really know what else is out there."

"I'll be back before you can miss me." I promised before darting off.

AAA

When I came back from my hunting trip with a handful of squirrels and one unlucky doe, I had expected to find Tony still snoozing away and Steve staring at leaves. I had not however, expected to find the shield laying atopa fire and smothering it completely, and Tony hanging from a tree in a net with no Steve in sight.

"It's official, I can't leave you guys alone for ten minutes." Stark did not stir, and I grew worried as something red dripped down by my feet. I dropped my haul and scaled the tree until I was level with him, frowning in real concern. For a full second I thought he actually wasn't breathing, his skin didn't seem to hold any color to it except the thick red line of blood trailing down the right side of his face.

His legs were scrunched up right to his chest, and I couldn't even see the blue glow that was always present. Then he started coughing and shifting about, and I released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. He squirmed a bit more before opening his eyes and I couldn't help but frown at the clouded quality to them; he was in bad shape. Worse then when I'd left, if that was possible.

"Hey man what happened?" I questioned, hoping to get something out of him while I dug my knife out and began sawing at a small section of the netting.

He mumbled some garbled reply, and I couldn't help myself by responding, "I swear if you said 'just hanging around' I am going to leave you up here." I threatened while the piece came loose under my hand, and I began on another one.

He began to really struggle all of a sudden, and the small hole I'd made started getting a lot bigger much too fast. He was going to rip the whole thing apart and fall back to the ground head first, with branches in the way.

The real problem came when one of his feet jutted out and I got a better look at his chest. There was a reason I hadn't been able to see the blue glow before. His arc reactor wasn't in. How was that even possible, shouldn't he be dead? The answer came when his other leg shot out and nearly kicked me in the face, but at least now I could see the thick cord dangling from the empty socket. I followed it down and saw the reactor flickering and nearly coming loose.

"Stark, stop freaking out or you're going to unplug yourself!" I demanded, trying to grab a hold of it while not knocking him out at the same time.

He snarled something and kicked out at me again, and I grabbed a hold of his injured leg. He screamed in pain, but focus finally came back to his eyes. They narrowed in on me dangerously before I hissed, "would you hold still for five seconds so I can put your battery back in?"

Some of this must have gotten through his thick skull as his eyes narrowed into almost slits and he muttered, "Clint?"

"Very good Tony," I said slowly, as if speaking to a child. I reached forward very carefully, keeping an eye on his legs. "Now don't make any sudden moves, alright? I'm going to put this back in, but if you kick me again, that leg's coming off." He did not react to my words at all, he might have even passed out again, but I finally got the stupid arc back in its place.

I waited several tense moments, but the flickering light did not stop. It didn't become a solid glow again either. Tony needed help, now, or he just wasn't going to make it. His body was shutting down around him, that infection was surely spreading past his leg, there was no telling how much oxygen he was actually getting through those shitty lungs, and now a head wound to boot. I could get him to the safe house, I knew I could, but...

I glanced down at the ground again where Steve's shield lay abandoned. There was no way I could just walk away and leave Rogers to whatever he was having to deal with. No matter what he would have said had he actually been here, I just couldn't leave him to defend himself. Not after the way he'd accepted me and trusted me after I wasn't sure I could even trust myself. After the countless battles and inside jokes and, no. I couldn't do it.

Why me? Why was I the one to choose who lived?

* * *

To end on a cliff hanger like that after such a long wait is very cruel, good thing that's my middle name


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own no Avenger related anything, trust me I started a club

Beta Read by Kitty29, whom without the help, this would not have made it to the light of your screen. Thank you

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Chapter 9

I woke up handcuffed to a bed. There were so many jokes to be made there that I was almost glad that I was in the room alone, wait where was I? There was no lighting in the room at all, so maybe I wasn't alone? Ugh, what was wrong with me? There seemed to be one to many thoughts floating around in my head, but none of them were sticking. Like my brain had turned into swiss cheese, everything was just falling through the cracks.

I tried to pull my wrists free of the cuffs, but for some reason they wouldn't budge. Then the pain started. Building mostly in my face, it stung and had me curling in on myself, my hands moving to grab at the burning parts, which just made my wrists scream all the more. I could feel something wet trickling down my arm, and my hands were numb, I must have been fighting the cuffs even in unconsciousness, for my wrists to be so torn up.

However, the pain soon passed as surely as my thought process, when a noise startled me. There were loud screams coming from above me, and a familiar roar I thought I should know, but it was gone as soon as I'd thought about it. I was amazed I hadn't noticed it all sooner, I must be really out of it.

The loud background noise soon dimmed to the back of my mind as well when a scuffle started very nearby. Gunshots were being released right behind a nearby wall, though I was still to addled to figure out from which direction. Something was seriously wrong here, and not just with my brain being on the fritz. Something was missing, I knew it, but it seemed impossible to remember what.

The gunshots stopped abruptly, and I only had a moment to wonder who or what had been killed, before the room I was in was bathed in to bright light. Crying out in pain, I lashed to my opposite side, trying to shield my eyes, but the florescent just seemed to penetrate strait to my brain, creating more holes, though I wasn't aware that was possible at this point.

"Sorry buddy" a voice said from right at my side as a cloth was placed over my face, at least semi helping to dim the lights. "Why wouldn't he have just broken these, there play toys to him?" The same voice spoke up, though he clearly wasn't speaking to me anymore.

"He's been drugged," a female voice this time, and I actually heard her sniff something before she continued "probably a sedative strong enough to knock out an elephant. We don't have time for it to wear off, get him out of the cuffs, we've got to move."

The pain intensified ten fold when that person started tearing at my wrists, and I cried out again, but both voices tried to quite me. I knew I should recognize them, but there was to much noise, to much pain, it seemed impossible to remember my own name. The pain was gone as suddenly as it had started, and I could suddenly lower my hands down to my face again, clutching at the cloth as if my life depended on it, trying to help block out the light.

"Come on Steve, we've got to move" the girl spoke, and I think she reached out and grabbed my arm, but I pulled away, mumbling something even I wasn't sure of.

"This is insane, Tasha we can't carry him out of here." The guy snapped, as he to started poking my side, either trying to get more of a response out of me or just trying to get me to move I had no idea.

"Thor, we need you down here, now!" the other spoke in a crisp voice, I did not hear a response, but she continued as if there was one "I don't care, Hulk can finish it, we need you to-" the loud crack of a gun shot cut through her voice, a man screamed in pain, and I could no longer hold onto my consciousness.

AAA

I woke up not handcuffed to a bed, which seemed like a plus. It also helped that I was thinking a bit more clearly, so I could make sense of what had happened when I'd been drugged. I must have been out of it for quite some time for those drugs to have cleanly passed out of my system.

Still, every muscle in my body was quavering with exhaustion, so I was content to just lay there and try not to think, as I felt safe and warm, where ever I was. This should bother me more, as I distinctly remembered having a sense of urgency about me, but I was just to comfortable to care about that right now.

Sadly, the comfier I got, the more readily the memories wanted to come, and I eventually let them through, if anything to get ride of this unsettling feeling. I decided to start at the end, and work my way backwards, since clearly that was where all this unease was coming from, so I slowly worked my way through the conversation between Clint and Natasha, the pain and confusion of waking up.

Once all that passed threw, I continued my way backwards, and felt a horrid tension growing as I remembered saying good by to Clint at the crack of dawn, deciding to prep a fire for the food that I knew he would bring back, and of waiting a few minutes then crawling over to Tony to wake him, as I had promised I would. His rather snide comments, and then a stone faced determination as he finished his project of the previous night.

Then finally, fear, as he unscrewed his own reactor from his chest, my vision must have been really failing me, but I distinctly remember hearing him mutter about a power source. A confrontation, trying to reason with a man who had clearly lost his mind, and then a noise unlike any I should hear in a forest. The soft click of a gun's safety turning off, the piercing feeling of something much to harder entering my flesh, a panicked cry.

Then a return to that muddled sense, of not understanding the garbled words as rough hands grabbed me, and spoke of something else that made no sense. "-tree-in the net-leave it out..." words that still made no sense to me now.

I didn't understand, those two memories were so clear, but there was no way that Clint and Natasha would come to rescue me and leave Tony to die. It must have been a mistake, or a dream, which means that I must still be held captive, and that the drugs were wearing off. I sat upright, disturbed that I wasn't held down, but taking it for the blessing that it was, and reached up to tear an obstruction from my eyes I had not previously noticed. The blinding lights of florescent lighting and a sterile white room perturbed me, but I quickly pushed it aside and made to get to my feet, glancing about me for any sort of weapon, when my eyes landed on Clint Barton.

Pale as the sheets around him, a breathing thing up his nose, an IV line dripping from his arm, and his chest bare so that I could see the stitches on his side, rage boiled inside me as I tried to push away what ever thoughts that were trying to pop up of how this happened to him.

Then I fully realized the problem, how was I supposed to get out of here, if I had to take along an injured and unconscious Clint as well, not to mention, where was Tony?

First things first, I marched over to him, unhooked him from as many things as I could find, and began gently shacking his shoulder to try and rouse him. We just had to be being watched, there was no way that I wouldn't be tied down and cameraless. He started to come around as I was unattaching those sticky things from his forehead and chest, making a screaming alarm go off as a monitor next to his bed flat-lined.

I heard noises approaching then, many people were coming in quickly, and I grabbed the first thing hand touched, and held it up defensively in front of the two of us, waiting for the attack that was Natasha Romanoff coming around the corner, pale as her companion behind me. Shoving me out of the way without a glance, she grabbed hold of his face, and started saying something in rapid Russian, while the other doctors came in and started poking, prodding, and reattaching my handiwork. "Damn Stark, you have the worst timing" she muttered so quietly under her breath, it was unclear if she'd really meant to say that out loud.

"Natasha, what-where?" but before I could really pull a sentence together, she turned fiery eyes on me and hissed "Don't do that! Like I need a third heart attack in one day!"

I came to a stuttering halt that, yeah The Black Widow was showing real emotion in my face to make her point. She turned back as the loud noises of Clint's heart still going strong was rung through out the room, and they then turned to me with weary eyes.

"Sire, you should get back into bed, were still not sure what side effects the drugs may have had on your syst-"

"Tony" I gasped, rounding on Natasha, as the shock finally wore off. "Natasha, where-"

Her face returned to the cold mask that we were all so used to, and her eyes flickered to the door way momentarily before looking back to me and stating "Watch him for me would you." Then she turned about, and left the room as quickly as she'd come. I had no idea if she was telling me to watch Clint, or the doctors to watch the both of us, but I quickly brushed them aside and followed after her never the less, safe in the knowledge that if Tasha would leave Clint's side right now, he was not the one in danger.

I followed her to the end of the hall and made to turn the same corner as she'd just done, only to turn and find her in the middle of it, fighting stance ready. "Go back to your room Steve."

"Natasha, where-"

"Now is not a good time" she hissed.

"But why," I tried one last time before she leaned forward and pushed her finger threateningly against my throat "do not make me put you back there, because right now I will. Go."

I did not move, and neither did she. We stood in this position for so long, that I began to wonder who was going to blink first, until the soft click of heels could be heard.

Looking up and around, another familiar red head rounded the corner, and Pepper's tear streaked face came right to our side. However, her voice was firm, and she looked Natasha in the eye as she stated "Let him come, maybe he'll have more luck then us."

Natasha backed down. She took a step back, threw me a dirty look and stated "Give me three minutes and I can handle him."

A look of anger passed over her for a moment before she replied calmly "that won't be necessary, I'll see you later." She then turned about and marched away, and I swiftly followed in her wake.

* * *

What a closer. What's the matter with Tony, what did Natasha do, why do I keep asking you guys when I have all the answers. Haha, guess you'll have to wait until next time

Someone asked for Clint whump, so I rewrote the last few chapters to throw that in at the end, hope you appreciated it as I had intended for him to come out unscathed and feeling guilty, but this will be more fun in the end.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I own no Avenger related anything, trust me I started a club

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Chapter 10

It took me a moment to realize what was so wrong with the scene. Then again, there weren't a lot of things wright with it. There was a solid steel door in front of what I assumed was supposed to be Tony's room, Pepper was standing next to me with still red eyes and a very blank look across her face, and there was someone next to the door with a laptop in there hands.

I just stood there looking at the solid wall and trying to make sense of this. When nothing more seemed to be happening I started "Pepper, where-"

"Tony's behind there" she gestured to the barrier "and he won't let anyone in. I'm so stupid, I should have known better but, ugh the point is that we have to convince him to let us in. Steve he needs us, even if he won't admit it."

Even more perplexed by this, I casted my eyes again over the thick metal door and asked "So, what, you want me to break it open?"

"I doubt you could" Pepper said with a slight frown, as if wishing that I could anyways "that door was made to attempt to slow the Hulk. Who is still in Mongolia buy the way, he's on his way back now, but we don't have that much time to sit around and wait, and that's not the point. You can talk to him using that" and she pointed at a small box just to the left of the door, which had a small button on it. "He can't answer though, so we just have to try and convince him to open the door. You and Clint have been with him this whole time Steve, maybe you can say something..." she trailed off with a wistful look back at the door, and I felt almost rude for witnessing it. Pepper was a strong and powerful woman, to see her so hurt like this pulled at a lot of things inside of me.

Still, only one part of that conversation really stuck out at me "What do you mean, he can't answer? Is his throat so badly messed up? That's going to get better though, right." After all, a silent Tony would probably be the end of the world.

"What, oh, no his lungs are healing alright. They cleaned them out, and while he will be short winded for quite some time, maybe an inhaler in extreme circumstances, that will get better." She fidgeted a bit at the end, and I knew this still wasn't the real reason for her discomfort.

_That _will? "Pepper, what is going on" I finally demanded, since there was something I wasn't being told. Natasha's oddly open demeanor, Pepper's almost weeping form, and why was Bruce being called back in such a hurry?

Pepper sucked in a deep lungful of air, and if I didn't have the hearing that I did, I would not have heard her whisper "They had to remove his leg Steve." She stopped suddenly, and then tears did leak out of her eyes. I just stood there, to stunned to react to the fact that she was openly crying now."They, what?"

"The infection ate away at the muscle-" she continued in a much stronger voice now that she was stating some cold hard facts "they had to remove it from the knee down. Tony woke up, and when he found out he asked me to go pick up some stuff from the tower, said he was going to fix this. When I came back, he'd barricaded himself in there. I'm thinking he's connected to JARVIS, but he can't get out of bed to respond, and JARVIS won't talk to me so there's no real way of knowing." She finished, and turned pleading eyes to me. "Steve, he still needs medical attention, and he won't let anyone back in, you just have to convince him to let us in." She finally took in a shuddering breath and then the two of us just stood there, staring at each other. Panic began to build up in me as I fully realized what she was asking me to do.

She wanted me to get Tony to listen.

How on Earth was I supposed to do that? He wouldn't listen to Natasha's threatening, he'd hacked his way so that if that guy over there sat there for ten years he wouldn't begin to be able to break in, and Pepper hadn't even been able to pull it off. Tony loved Pepper more than anyone, and she knew him best. He'd laid down his life for her on countless occasions, and now he wouldn't open a damn door for her. What in God's name was I supposed to do?

I have no idea how long we stood there staring at each other, but it finally seemed to sink in to her that her presence here wasn't helping. So she marched over to laptop guy, tapped him on the shoulder and whispered something in his ear. They both got up and walked away without another word. Now without an audience, I finally turned to look back at the barricade.

With sudden determination I marched up to that stupid little button, mashed it down with only just under enough strength to not break it, opened my mouth, and froze. Words had never come to me as easily as the others, at least off the field of battle, maybe we were better off just letting Natasha threaten him until he gave in.

Finally, I just decided to start telling him something I might want to know in his place. "So uh, Clint's doing fine. I'm not a doctor or anything, but you know, he looked okay when I last saw him. Well, he was pale, but that's probably from the blood loss. He was breathing on his own though, so that's good. I don't even know how long ago he was shot, or how long I was passed out I guess, but I'm sure his color will come back."

I stopped suddenly there, feeling rather lame for rambling on the same topic for to long, so I pressed on to the next thing that came to mind, "Pepper's worried about you. Never seen that woman cry, and frankly its wierd. I can understand you kicking the rest of us out, well um, no I can't, but since its you I guess I can. You know most people don't refuse medical help, but I guess that's just another of your one of a kind features."

Glancing at the door, I was half hoping it would magically have opened with that pitiful speech, and was unsurprised when it remained as solid as ever. Okay, so giving him information he probably already knew hadn't helped, maybe I should distract him. That usually got some good results. Tony was most likely working on some project or another in there, because that's what he did. When he was upset about something, he worked it off in his mind.

"So, I don't actually know what your working on in there, but um, your probably updating your suite or something, but it'd be kind of useful if you'd let the doctors back in so that you can get in it again, don't you think? I mean, the press is going to start wondering where Iron Man is, and while we will hold them off as long as we can, we all know your the media go to guy. The teams going to be just as off balance as you are for a while until we can get this sorted out. Then again, Hawkeye's probably going to be out of commission for a little while to, so we're going to be two team members short-"

The door suddenly slid open, and I stood there in shock for a moment, afraid to move forward since it might snap shut with me under it. Then Tony spoke up from the bed "You mean that?"

I didn't know which part he was talking about, and it didn't matter, because I hadn't lied once this whole time. My eyes flew to his, and I couldn't stop my mouth from opening in shock. He looked a real mess, they had cleaned his superficial cuts, and the bruises were yellowing out, but the real travesty was the stump of his old leg, propped on pillows, bandaged in thick whites but still clearly ending far too short. On display for anyone to see.

"Tony, you-" I started lamely, and was actually thankful when he cut me off "Did you mean that, about me still being part of the team?"

He still hadn't met my eyes, which were still hovering on the ceiling. His hands were continuing to move restlessly about him, like he wasn't sure of what to do with himself. This was starting to make me more anxious than his silence, since I'd never seen a Stark so awkward. Then his question caught up with me.

"Of course I meant that" I yelped, quickly lunging into the room and at his side before that door slammed back down "how could you think otherwise?"

His eyes flickered to his half appendage before quickly darting back to the ceiling. I glanced around wearily, spotted an uncomfortable looking chair, and sank down into it wearily. I wasn't physically exhausted, but the full impact of the situation hadn't really hit me until this moment. I'd come off scotch free, Clint might have a pretty little scar to show for it later but I was positive there wouldn't be any lasting damage, but Tony...

Heaving a deep sigh, I finally floundered for the words that should have started this conversation "Look Tony, I've seen injuries like yours before. Veterans do not come out of war unscathed, but they do bounce back from it. The strong ones do, and Tony you are strong." I glanced up and was pleased to see that his eyes were now fixated on me, taking in my every word now. So I quickly pressed on in a stronger voice "Hey, if it wasn't for you, we might never have gotten out of that Hell hole. What exactly did you hook yourself up to that led SHIELD right to your location?"

That competent and self satisfied smirk finally made a reappearance as he stated proudly "Created a beacon for the Iron Man suite that any moron could home in on if they knew what they were looking for. I was hoping SHIELD would get to us faster than whoever was following us, and didn't count on Barton splitting out."

I couldn't help but wince at that, and decided I would avoid telling Clint that as long as possible. I knew he was probably still going to have a guilt trip even after he woke up. Deciding to quickly change topics, I pressed on with the next thing that came to mind "So what were you working on that was so important only JARVIS gets to see?"

What little animation had come back to his face immediately died with those words, and his face turned back to the ceiling, while his hands began there fidgeting once again. I sighed and glanced up as well, hoping some answers to this problem were etched into the smooth tiles above. We stayed silent for so long, that I thought he was done talking to me, but I was afraid to leave. He would probably just shut us all right out again, so I had to think of something. When he finally did speak up, he brought up the last subject I expected. "You know I expected this to happen back at the river. That's why I decided to tear apart the suit, I accepted that I was no longer going to be of any use to the team, but I was going to get you guys out of there first."

He paused to take in a rattling breath, and though it wasn't as heavy as I remembered them being, it was clear his lungs were still bothering him greatly. Still he pressed on before I could "So when I woke up in here and realized just how horribly right I was, I just didn't want this at all. I got everyone out and was determined to lock myself in here until the rest of my leg grew back or..." he trailed off unsteadily, and I made a face at what that or was. Very glad he didn't finish.

"Tony-" I tried again, but he pressed on, seeming determined to get this all out of him, "Then JARVIS spoke up. Yeah, my AI actually got me to see since there's a first, and he pointed out that my arc reactor, while Pepper put the new one in herself, should be checked to make sure it was still functioning normally, it hit me! Hello, I made a machine to run my heart, the most intricate part of my body, half a leg should be easy after that."

His eyes finally met mine then, and I saw a combination of things there. Excitement being the dominant one, but also a little bit of something else that took me a moment longer then it should have to pick up on, fear. I wasn't sure what the fear was for, maybe he thought it wasn't going to work, though I sincerely doubted that. Maybe he was afraid of the long months it would take to complete this, and how his life was going to go in that mean time. We could all help him cope with that. Perhaps he still doubted his place on this team, which was preposterous. So I said the one thing I knew could erase all of those fears in one.

"The Avenger's stand as one, and we will all help to make sure that's exactly what happens."

It seemed to work, as the old Stark finally came back to life, and he pulled up what I took to be his new leg, though to me it was a 3D image of a bunch of wiring hovering over his bed. He began blabbering away, and though I took in about two percent of it, I still smiled at seeing my friend back once again. At one point Pepper came back around the corner, and the brightest smile I'd ever seen crossed her face as she took in the sight before her.

She came back a few minutes later with some snacks, and a bottle of pills. Stark was so into his project that he paid no mind to what entered his mouth, so this time it was easy enough to get those down. Clint woke up soon after, and he and Natasha soon made their entrance as well. Natasha and Pepper got into a deep conversation with each other while keeping one eye on Tony, making sure he didn't pull something stupid while he thought we were distracted, and talking about physical therapy, I think. They mentioned doctors and appointments a lot.

So I leaned over to Clint, and first asked how he was feeling. Said he was sore, which roughly translated to just been through hell and back, but he was still up and about so that said something. Then I gave him my stern, no nonsense face and finally demanded the one thing that was still bothering me since I'd woken up "Why did you come to rescue me when Tony needed the medical attention?"

He turned startled gray eyes to me so fast that I noticed a minute discomfort on his face, but it quickly passed as he answered "Thought Pepper or Tasha would have told you, we got Tony out of there first. I was climbing out of some stupid tree, dragging Stark along, and heading for the safe house when SHIELD, caught up with us. They got Tony to medical and Natasha and I started to try and figure out where you could have been taken. It was only when we looked at a map did I notice something odd about the safe house I was leading us towards, it was a fake. The map that I had seen and the one Natasha had didn't have the safe house in the same location, so that's when I knew that the same guys who blew up our truck probably somehow got that faulty info into our system as well. Pretty sure someone's already dead for it, though thankfully it's not us."

I nodded my consent, okay that made some sort of sense, but "Why me? Why were they so after me?" After all, they'd had the chance to grab Hawkeye, the worlds best marksman, or Tony Stark, the genius mechanic. What did I have that they wanted so bad? Or worse, what did they take from me?

Clint's face clouded over with such a dark look, that I felt a shiver go up my own spine. His eyes flickered to Tony's almost missing appendage, then to the scar's that probably still littered my face, and finally flickered down to his own side. "That, my good Captain, is a mission for another time, when our team is whole again."

* * *

I so greatly apologize for the long long wait on the final chapter, I got hooked on a new game, plus I had to rewrite some stuff when I injured Clint, which sadly condensed the last two chapters, into this last chapter. Still, hoping you sincerely enjoyed.

Just the epilogue left, maybe. Not sure if I'm even going to post the Epilogue or save it for the first chapter of this sequel. Either way, that's this story done. I sincerely thank each and every reviewer, favoriter, and subscribers of all kind, you are what helped make this fic complete. Hope you enjoyed this, and the more to come.

p.s. Some of you might be mad at me for doing that to Tony's leg, but it won't make a great deal of difference I feel, as he's made his own suite of armor! A prosthetic leg should be child's play to him after that. It just bugs me when I see things similar to this, where they walk around with broken whatevers for days on end, and end up with no permanent damage. Steve's super healing would have prevented that from happening to him, Clint got his treated fast enough, but Tony did spend several days, in hell, with an infection. Just saying, people in real life would not have gotten away with that scotch free, and I do try and make these as realistic as possible.


End file.
